1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The field of the invention is solid material comminution or disintegration and particularly processes with classification or separation of material and apparatus utilizing an arcuate screen concentric with a rotary comminuting member.
2. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Deboning machines and apparatus are known in the art. Such machines are in use in both the fish industry and the poultry industry for separating hard substances such as bone and cartilage from the softer meat which remains after the usual stripping operations. The material is normally ground to a certain consistency and then pumped into the separating machine. U.S. Pat. No. 4,042,176 presents a horizontally disposed and oriented machine which utilizes a comminuting pressure auger and screen. It should be noted that this machine being horizontally oriented has some of the usual problems associated with the flow of materials in the horizontal direction and the wear on the machinery. The machine employs a number of bearing pillow blocks for fully supporting the auger and the other components. Such bearings and blocks are unnecessary in the present arrangement. Further, the auger support and pressure adjustments are different. In the present device there is a lower bearing retainer and a compression ring which is adjustable to the auger so that the spacing between the auger and the throat through which the bone passes may be properly adjusted. The present device operates differently from the machine described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,042,176 in that among other things product enters at the far end and is augered toward the power-source; thus, the thrust bearing is on the opposite end and cone-compression which creates torque is next to the power-source.
An object of this invention is to provide a vertically oriented deboning machine which moves the product from above to below and is driven by a vertically oriented auger from a motor supported on a bottom base plate.
Another object of this invention resides in the particular arrangement of the compression ring and its adjustment to the auger.
An additional object of this invention resides in the bearing arrangement employing a combination radial and thrust bearing at the top and a radial bearing at the bottom thereby eliminating such things as spaced pillow block bearings or bearing plates.
Unlike prior machines this machine utilizes the natural internal pressures to accomplish continuous, self-pumping exiting of both usable meat and bone residue.
An advantage of the present invention resides in the vertical orientation requiring less floor space and also in the aforementioned arrangement of bearings and auger and other components whereby the machine is readily disassembled off of a bottom support and placed back thereon so that it may be broken down at the end of each work day and cleaned properly as required by various regulations.
Another advantage of the present invention is that the auger is hollow and therefore light and easy to handle and thus less likely to be dropped and damaged. Also this auger has female threads whereas earlier augers all have male threads and oftimes are constructed from more than a single piece.
Another advantage is that the hollow auger is threaded directly to the motor shaft via the stainless steel motor shaft adapter. Other deboners are actually attached to the motor shaft by way of a flexible rubber coupling. The present direct connection to the heavy motor rotor causes the rotor's weight to beneficially counter the upward thrust of the auger. This tends to lengthen the life of the thrust bearing.